It’s a common housewives’ tale that if it rains on your wedding day you’ll have good luck, prosperity and fertility. But what do you do when that day comes, and your finely planned wedding can no longer happen the way you imagined it would? Let’s be honest here, most of us would probably freak out. However, this hiccup in your wedding day can almost always be avoided if you have a knowledgeable wedding planner on your team. During the summer months here in Florida you can almost set your watch by the afternoon storms that roll in and you can be sure that mother nature starts her daily uproar right when your ceremony is supposed to begin. Being that Magnolia Manor is an outdoor venue, several steps and precautions have been put into place to make sure that whether rain or shine our brides leave happy and dry.

If it rains on your big day, embrace it, after all there’s really nothing anyone can do to make it stop. For some brides the rain is actually a blessing in disguise. Several things can change due to the weather: it can bring down the scorching temperatures for something more tolerable for guests, it can create a unique look for wedding portraits and it can change the atmosphere of the entire wedding by bringing it into a more intimate setting. During this past wedding season one of our brides encountered this first hand. As the rain began to fall the morning of her wedding, we made the decision to bring the ceremony and cocktail under the covered barn. Under the dimmed wagon wheel chandeliers and down a candle lit aisle our bride and groom were married in front of an elegant white sheer arbor as guests watched from their tables. Just by making some minor changes and embracing their wedding day weather, this couple ended up with something that they didn’t even know they wanted but were over the moon about in the end.

On the opposite end of the spectrum there is a real difference between a light afternoon rain and the monsoons that come with tropical storms and hurricanes. Being an outdoor venue, we have regulations and procedures that are put in place but if mother nature decides she’s going to let a tropical storm roll in the day of your wedding. In all reality you have one of two choices: roll with it or cancel it. That’s exactly what we had to do in October 2017 when a last-minute tropical storm came through Vero Beach. Handling the situation with grace our bride trusted us to make sure that her wedding still went off without a hitch. Whether it was walking the 150 guests to and from the barn under the cover of oversized umbrellas or putting up clear side paneling so that guests could stay dry while they ate, every detail was considered. When the clouds cleared, and the wedding was over it was almost as if no one had even noticed the storm that had occurred.

Not every venue has to worry about weather, but some of us do, and it is always prudent to have a Plan A, Plan B and even a Plan C. With our brides who have a guest count over 75 we always suggest that they think about bringing in a tent. This call is made 72 hours prior to the wedding and saves the guests from being drenched and the ceremony being delayed. We work hard to make sure that our brides vision comes to life but we also know that mother nature likes to throw us a curve ball every now and again and it is best to be prepared.

For some rain can be the worst thing to happen on their wedding day, but for others it turns into a true blessing in disguise. Honestly, it all comes down to how you embrace your particular situation. If your venue has a back up ballroom, then move inside. If it looks like it will only sprinkle for a few minutes, hold off on the ceremony. Remember if it rains on your big day, take out those cute rain boots and umbrellas and trust your planner, because in the end you’re still achieving your one true goal of getting married to your best friend.